Neighborhood design and depression patterns: the case of metropolitan cities in Israel

Source abstract

This paper aims to identify possible links between depression and patterns of neighborhood design, addressing the overarching question: Are particular neighborhood prototypes associated with depression patterns? If so, in what way? This question is explored by analyzing multidisciplinary database sources (i.e. medical, urban, and environmental data), focusing on the 13 neighborhoods in four metropolitan cities in Israel – Haifa, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Beer Sheva. This analysis across patterns of neighborhood design reinforces the claims of existing urban health literature on the role of neighborhood environments for the mental health of residents, calling for developing a design framework for neighborhoods that would support mental health.